Chapter 17: Daylight

A-N

Hi everyone,

I really had a problem with this chapter: there was a piece of the puzzle in my mind that was missing. I talked to everyone, even asked people for their help (thank you spiritgirl-11!) After all this, someone suddenly made me see the light. I don't know why I didn't come up with it myself… This is still plot development, but verrrry soon you'll have the Gabby fluff everyone's waiting for! :) I'll stop rambling now, so you guys can finally read the next chapter.

Special thanks to camiguin, for sending me one of the kindest reviews ever.
spiritgirl-11, for helping me and having only this story in her favorite stories list.

Beta: Tino-chan. My English in this chapter basically sucked, so without her help you wouldn't be reading this chapter now.

Preview:
If they could trace those people back to the kidnappers, they would find Abby for sure. Gibbs eyes brightened. They finally had a lead.

Xxxx

Now that they'd finally found a clue –a vital clue– his first reaction was to go for it.
But he was Gibbs, and if he ever learned something in all of those years as a marine, it was to never do anything without a decent plan.

So that's what they did.

They were all sitting in the car, parked around the corner, so they wouldn't rise suspicion. Gibbs and Tony were sitting in the front and were slightly turned so they could talk to McGee and Ziva who were sitting in the back.

"Boss, should we try to contact director Vance? I'm quite sure he's not gonna like us storming inside that building. Besides, we don't have any jurisdiction here…" McGee told him, slightly nervous and still looking a little greenish.
Gibbs sighed. He knew he wasn't allowed to arrest anyone –he'd known that all along. Luckily he had never planned on arresting the ones responsible. He wasn't planning on letting the damn jurisdiction stop him.
"We are losing time," he growled suddenly, slamming his hand down on the dashboard. "Okay. Dinozzo and McGee go around the back. Wait for my signal. Ziva and I are going in at the front."
"And what do we do when we find the people Danai told us about?" Tony asked, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder, where the girl was sleeping in the back seat.
"Oh, and we can't possibly leave her in the car, Gibbs!" Ziva was right. He hadn't considered that.
"Okay, McGee, you stay here," he told the younger agent in a gruff voice, absently tracing the outlines of his badge with his thumb. The man looked like he was going to be sick again anyway.
"In that case, boss, can Ziva go with-"
"No."
"But-"
"NO."
"Yes boss."
"And about the people we'll hopefully find… we're bringing them here for interrogation. If they are part of this, I'll see what I'm gonna do with them. Try not to shoot them."
All three agents echoed a "yes boss" and he started the engine.

Xxxx

"NCIS!"
They burst in, yelling police, guns raised. A black haired woman flew up from the couch she had been sitting on and raised her hands, startled. She screamed something in Spanish, probably alerting her husband. He came flying down the stairs seconds later, only to completely freeze when he spotted the agents. The tanned man hissed something to his wife, who only shrugged helplessly.
"I'm pretty sure he was cursing boss," Tony told Gibbs, while pulling out his handcuffs and cuffing the still screaming man. "Hush, that's not gonna help you, fella," He said to his captive, dragging him with him. They cleared the rest of the house and checked outside. The street was deserted. They put the man and woman in the car as silent and as fast as they could, not to alert any neighbors. When the black doors of their van closed behind them they drove away immediately. With screeching tires, they rounded the corner and drove until they were at a safe distance. Gibbs parked in the shadow of a big palm tree and abruptly turned around so he faced the two captives. They both winced.
"English?" he growled. Silence.
"Let me do this, Gibbs," Ziva offered. She started talking swiftly in Spanish.
"Oh, sure, she knows Spanish, too," Tony muttered, sounding jealous. He quickly shut up after noticing the glares Gibbs and Ziva threw at him. She asked him a few questions in Spanish, but he didn't answer. In response, Ziva pulled her gun and yelled something at him. The Mexican's eyes grew. After a few seconds, he finally started to talk. With a lot of gestures he seemed to explain something. Finally, he sighed deep and shuffled a bit closer to his wife. Ziva nodded and turned to the team.
"He told me… that the Mob controls everyone in this city. He says that Abby and the other hostages that wanted his help didn't have any chance. Wherever they would've gone; everyone here works for them. Even the police are corrupt. If he would have hidden them, they would've killed him and his wife for sure." She paused. "I think he's telling the truth, Gibbs."
"Does he know their headquarters?" Ziva repeated the question in Spanish. The man shook his head, but his wife clearly hesitated. After noticing that all eyes were on her, she said something in Spanish with shaking hands.
"That's a yes, right?" Tony asked eagerly. As Ziva confirmed this, Gibbs turned around again, starting the engine.
"Take us there," he ordered. "NOW!"
The woman didn't give them many instructions because of her immense fear, but after ten minutes or so, she pointed at a big house. It had the same orange color as the rest of the houses and had a square shape, but there was something about it… Gibbs immediately sensed a gut feeling: this was the place. And the chances that Abby was here… were very good.

Yes. Suddenly he was struck by an idea. He turned to McGee.
"You still got that phone number?" he didn't bother explain further, because McGee immediately understood what he was getting at.
"The kidnappers' phone number? One minute, boss." He flipped open his laptop and screened the text that appeared on the display. "Right…. Here it is." He turned the computer so the silver-haired agent could see. Gibbs smirked. He dialed the number and waited. After the phone rang a few time, it was picked up.
"Agent Gibbs?" A familiar voice said. He recognized the man that talked to him last time and put his phone on speaker. The team leaned forward eagerly so they could all listen in. "You got our man out?"
"O yeah," Gibbs agreed, to the utter surprise of the others. "I did. What now?" There was silence on the other side for a few seconds. Then the man resumed.
"You get him to Mexico, that's what you do." He sounded all brave now, trying to overpower him. Gibbs let him do it. He got the impression that the man was actually still very young and wasn't used to situations like this; hell, he wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have anything to do with the kidnapping at all. Someone else was pulling the strings for sure. But it wasn't like they were going to have something on him for much longer. He just had to get Abby back, and then there was nothing left standing between him and the mystery caller with his bosses.
"Okay," He lightly agreed, sounding perfectly okay. That seemed to confuse the kidnapper a little, as he quickly scraped his throat.
"Right.. So.. When can you get him in Mexico?"
"What about in an hour?" Shocked silence. "Hey? You there?" Gibbs barked.
"Y-yes. Okay. An hour. That's… I guess we- I could…"
"Is it okay or not?"
"It… I don't..." He seemed to have regained his strength a little, as his voice abruptly was caught off. Suddenly another, female, voice spoke.
"You're already here? That's very fast, Gibbs. I'm impressed." Tony, McGee and Ziva threw a startled look at each other, but their boss just narrowed his eyes.
"Who the hell is this?" he shouted, looking so scary that everyone in the van flinched.
"Oh, a little rude are we? Where are you exactly? And do you have the prisoner with you? Hm." The woman sighed. "Frankly, I'm a little disappointed in you Gibbs, seeing as you never let a chance of justice pass. Or do you?" The agent frowned.
"What the hell are you talking about?" As no one answered, he softened his voice a little bit. "Yeah, I have the prisoner and we're in Puebla." From the corner of his eyes, he saw McGee mouth "Puebla?" to Tony, who shrugged. Puebla was a city close to Mexico city, Gibbs went there a while ago, to get some wood for his new boat. He was familiar with the place. But that didn't really matter. As long as it was far away from here. Not that far away, but far enough to get them gone for at least one hour. That would be enough time to get Abby out of there.
"You better be there in one hour," the woman hissed. "I'll meet you at the embassy that's stationed there. But you better have our guy with you, or you won't see you're the freak girl ever again." Gibbs slammed his jaw together to keep himself from shouting something he would regret later.
"Will you take her with you?" he asked instead. The woman huffed.
"Yeah, right, like we would be so stupid. You'll never find out where she is until we tell you. And we wanna know if you're telling the truth first."
"Fine. One hour, in front of the embassy. I'll be waiting." And Gibbs hung up. Immediately, everyone was questioning him.
"But Gibbs, …" Ziva.
"I don't understand…" McGee
"Boss, why would you…" Dinozzo.
"This is Mexico City…" Said the black haired woman they held captive.
"Stop!" He barked, trying to get them quiet again. But the noise had already woken Danai, who sleepily opened her eyes.
"Are we there yet, mom?" she mumbled, before seeing all the people looking at her from the front of the car. Her bottom lip started to tremble. The special agent closed his eyes briefly trying to regain his calm.
"Listen," he said in a voice that was in such a way threatening that everyone abruptly shut up. "We're going to do it this way. When they're going to Puebla, we have a chance of getting Abby out of that building. Everyone clear?"
"You decided to lure them away! That's genius," McGee noted exited, rubbing his hands together. "But how will you know if they're not taking Abby with them?"
"That's why you," Gibbs pointed at McGee. "Are gonna spy. Starting… now." He threw the youngest agent a set of keys from the silver car they had brought as a spare. "You take the car and take position in front of the house. We'll wait for your sign. McGee? Now?" He added, as the agent hesitated. McGee jumped into action and left the car. Gibbs breathed in deeply and decided this was it. All or nothing. If someone touched his people, he would do everything to get them safe again. But if someone touched Abby…
He didn't think anyone could foresee the consequences.

A/N Yup, end of the chapter already. I hope this didn't bore you too much, and even if it did: There are better chapters currently in progress. Pinky swear!